Uchiha Honor
by brendabond
Summary: Before Itachi dies, he explains himself to his best friend.  T rating for very very slight Kisa/Ita.


**Uchiha Honor**

Itachi entered the bunker, and dropped the Sharingan. He didn't need it to see this place where he and Kisame had been living for the last few weeks. Kisame cared too much for his friend's pride to move anything, or leave something out where Itachi may trip. He knew Itachi's guarded secret. He couldn't see worth a damn.

"I'm so tired," Itachi coughed hard. Moving the right amount of carefully measured steps from the doorway to the dark rectangle of the heavy table, he edged to the side, and walked to a dim blur of their television. 'It gets boring waiting for your brother to kill you.' had been Kisame's reasoning. He halted, made a ninety-degree turn, and took the necessary steps to the futon before throwing himself into it's rickety embrace. He lay there, eyes closed, and felt the enormity of what was possibly going to happen sooner than he expected. His spies had reported Orochimaru killed, with Sasuke the victor. _Strange_, he thought with a sigh, _that Sasuke would kill Konoha's number one threat_. But, he was glad that he had. In his gut, he had wished he'd killed that bastard when he'd had the chance, but...he was tired. Tired of following orders, being what other people thought he should be, and mostly, tired of being Uchiha. Pulling the stays on his cloak open, he shrugged out of the oppressive garment, revealing his customary mesh rimmed shirt and dark blue uniform pants.

Itachi swiveled his head toward the bright rectangle of the door to the outer defense, listening for the noise to come again. There it was, the loud steps of his partner. He waited for the other man to enter the room, and was shortly rewarded with the soft scent of a salty shore. Kisame's home was on the sea, and he knew his friend looked for all the world like he had risen from said ocean to feast on land. Taller than anyone else he knew, Kisame had grey-blue skin that felt slightly rough, like fine sandpaper. Fierce yellow eyes stared out of a visage so frightening, Itachi wondered if even his mother had loved him. He has sharp white teeth, and three even rows of gill slits. He was his friend for all that, though, and a true one.

"How is it today, Itachi?" His voice was rough, but he knew the tones of the man who shared his life. He was worried.

"I'm tired." Itachi replied, and patted the futon, silently asking Kisame to join him. The large man slung his sword against the wall, and flicked off the television before setting on the edge of the futon. Kisame heavy-handedly popped the snaps of his own cloak, and shrugged out of it patting Itachi on the knee.

"You've earned your rest. Zetsu reports your bother about a week's journey from here, if he doesn't push hard. Deidara will meet up with him soon, orders of Pain, he says."

Itachi nodded, "That ass, he'll die in a lovely artistic way, I'm sure. Maybe an explosion of some kind?" The both laughed at the joke. Deidara was full of himself, they all were, but he was always just a little more annoying about it.

Kisame agreed with a nod. "You're going though with it? I hate your plan, by the way."

"I know. You must have told me how you feel a hundred times. This is how it's going to be, though, and you'll live, report my death, and stay out of Uchiha affairs." Itachi's eyes flicked open regarding his friend. "It's not like you're the one who has to die."

Kisame's mouth turned down, "Why do you have to die? Why don't you kill that brother of yours, and take his eyes? Why are you so tired of living?" Kisame's rough fingered hand touched his cheek, forestalling the argument they'd had a hundred times before, "I will do as you say, Itachi, I don't have to agree with you." Kisame leaned over and ran his lips across his friend's cheek before sitting back with a hard sigh.

Itachi reached up, and Kisame lay his cheek in his hand, "I'm tired, but I'm still a Uchiha, I can do what needs doing. It's not like I'm just throwing my life away, this time...this time, I will have found my honor."

AN/ Ah, my first and very probably only yaoi flavored fic. In fact, this is the first fic I ever wrote. I just dusted it off, fixed it up as best as I could, and decided to share. Thanks for taking the time to read it, and if you don't mind dropping a review, that'd just make my day.


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